Exploring Chicago in a Day

One Day to Explore Chicago

Even though we were in Chicago primarily for Star Wars Celebration, we still took the time to explore Chicago in our one extra day. Even though it is the 3rd largest city in the United States, neither one of us had ever visited before, so we wanted to do some sightseeing. I somehow developed plantar fasciitis during my time there, so walking was a bit painful; however, I was not going to let a little pain stop me from exploring!

Lake Michigan and the Skyline

Because I teach geography, Chicago comes up a lot in my examples (did you notice that I already threw out a geography fact about it is the 3rd largest city??). One of the stops I wanted to make was Lake Michigan. Besides being one of the five great lakes, it is the only Great Lake located entirely within the borders of the United States. The five lakes contain a whopping 21% of the world’s fresh water! Of course, I had to touch its waters.

We continued walking until we reached Navy Pier. Even though there are a multitude of attractions at the Pier, such as mazes, gardens, a children’s museum, and the iconic ferris wheel, we decided to stop and eat there rather than spend too much time exploring.

The Bean and the Art Institute

After lunch, we walked along the Lakefront Trail. The views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline were breathtaking. Every step was agony with my plantar fasciitis, but the views helped ease the pain. Our goal was to make our way to Millennium Park and see Cloud Gate, best known as The Bean, a sculpture by Sir Anish Kapoor. I thought it was beautiful, the seamless, polished design reflecting everyone. We naturally took a bunch of photos. The underside of The Bean is concave and extremely trippy to look at, with its multitude of warped reflections. It actually made me a little dizzy!

Pretty much across the street is The Art Institute of Chicago. Knowing there were a few must-see pieces located within it, we decided to do a quick tour and check out the highlights.

One of the most famous pieces is Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Our friends’ parents did their own version a while back, so it was only fitting that they also put their own take on it. Another big piece (literally – it takes up a whole wall!) is Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grade Jatte–1884. I definitely had a Ferris Bueller moment with it. They even had one of the sketches Seurat did in 1884 before he painted the main painting, which was cool to find the differences.

There were a nice number of Monet’s, Van Gogh’s, Picasso’s, and Warhol’s within the museum as well. Even some Dali’s, who’s The Persistence of Memory is one of my favorite paintings (though that particular painting is located in MoMA).

Last Moments of Exploring Chicago in a Day

After our trek through art, we continued walking to the Chicago Theatre, with it’s iconic sign. We then found the buildings, called Marina City, on Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album cover. Mr. Nola Nerd adores Wilco, so this was an extra special sight for him.

That was about all we had time for before we headed back to the hotel and leave for the airport. There are still so many things to see and do in Chicago, but we always leave a place with the mindset that we will be back one day.

Previously in the trip, we did manage to eat a couple of deep dish pizzas, one at Pizza Due and one at Lou Malnati’s.

We also checked out the Game of Thrones experience at the AT&T store, which was made us feel like we won the Iron Throne. We saw plenty of art and sculptures around the city and experienced crazy weather, where it snowed only two days before our trek throughout the city!

All in all, it was a wonderful city, one that I look forward to going back to and exploring again.